Sway bar



April 25, 1939. MclNTYRE SWAY BAR Fi led Jan. 17, 1958 Fig. 5.

3 rau may 1). M m W ATTORNEY.5

Patented Apr. 25, 1939 sway nan Brouwer D. McIntyre, Monroe, Mich,assignor to Monroe Auto Equipment Company, Monroe,

Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application January 1'1, 1938, SerialNo. 185,473

7 Claims.

This invention relates generally to stabilizing equipment for motorvehicles and refers more particularly to stabilizers of the type havinga torsion bar mounted on either thesprung'or unsprung assembly of thevehicle and connected to the other assembly in a manner to resistrelative deflection of the suspension springs at opposite sides of thevehicles to maintain the normal plane of the body of the vehicle sub- 10stantially parallel with the plane of the axle when the vehicle isturned in either direction from a straight course of travel.

In many installations of sway eliminators of the above general type, thetorsion bar is mounted on the sprung weight and the opposite ends of thebar are operatively connectedto the unsprung weight through the mediumof links. These links are costly to manufacture due to the particularconstruction required to insure quiet operation over a long period ofuse and,

in addition, consume considerable time in assembly; It is, therefore,one of the principal objects of this invention to provide a swayeliminator capable of performing the desired results at least aseiliciently as the above type of assembly and rendering it possible-toeliminate the links heretofore considered necessary. In accordance withthis invention, the torsion bar is supported on one of the assembliesfor rocking movement and is'provlded with laterally extend-,-

ing arms having the extremities thereof pivoted directly to the otherassembly.

Another advantageous feature of this invention consists in the provisionof a one-piece substantially U shaped sway eliminator of the above typewherein the ends of the leg portions of the U are pivoted directly tonneof the assemblies and wherein the interconnecting base section of'the Uis mounted on the other assembly in 40 resilient blocks permitting therequired shifting movement of the U-shaped sway eliminator byinterparticle flow of the resilient material from which the blocks areformed to compensate for the different paths. of travel of the arms ofthe U-shaped eliminator and the part of the 'assembly to which the endsof the arms are pivoted.-

The foregoing, as well as other objects, will be made more apparent asthis description proceeds, especially when considered in connection withthe accompanying drawing, wherein:--

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a vehicle equipped with a swayeliminator assembly constructed in accordance with this inventionpFigure 2 is a side elevational view of a por- ,5 tion of theconstruction shown in Figure 1;

. Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on t e planeindicated by the line 33 of Figure Figure4 is a sectional view similarto Figure 3 showing a slightly modified form of construction; 5 andFigure 5 is a horizontal sectional view through another embodiment ofthis invention.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, it will be noted that thereis illustrated in Fig- 10 ure 1; a portion of a vehicle having a sprungassembly i0 and having an unsprung assembly IL In the present instance,the sprung assembly comprises a frame l2 having laterally spacedlongitudinally extending side sills secured in as- 15 sembled relationto each other by suitable cross members, designated generally'herein bythe reference character L3. The unsprung assembly H I comprises an axleIt extending transversely of the frame l2 beneath the same and-carrying20 road engaging wheels It at opposite ends thereof. Although variousdifferent types of suspension systems may be employed without departingfrom the spirit'and scope of this invention, nevertheless, for thepurpose of illustration, I have shown 25 the sprung assembly lllassupported from the unsprung assembly II by means of conventionalsemi-elliptical leaf springs l6 extending longitudinally of the frame l2at opposite sides thereof. Upon reference to Figure 1, it will be noted30 that the free-ends of the springs are suitably pivotally connected tothe adjacent sill members of the frame 12 and the central portions ofthese springs are secured to the axle M by means of U-bolts I1. 5

- In accordance with the presentinvention, side swaying or roll of thesprung weight of the vehicle is eliminated by maintaining the normalplane of the body of the vehicle substantially parallel with the planeof the axle when the 40 vehicle is turned in either direction from astraight line course. For accomplishing this result, I provide means inthe form of a stabilizer l8 comprising a substantially U-shaped springsteel bar l9 mounted upon one of the aforesaid 5 assemblies with thebase section 20 of the U extending transversely of the vehicle and withthe side arms 2| of the U directly plvotally connected to the otherassembly. Although it is immaterial insofar as the principle ofoperation 50 of the present invention is concerned'which of theassemblies is selected formounting the sway bar 19, nevertheless, forthe purpose ofillustrating the present invention, I have shown the 7 barl9 as mounted on the sprung assembly Ill and as having the extremitiesof the arms 2| directly pivotally connected to the unsprung as? sembly Hor axlell of the: vehicle.

In detail, the base section of the U-shaped bar l9 extends transverselyof the frame i2 beneath the latter and the opposite ends of the basesection 20 are respectively mounted on the laterally spaced sills of theframe for roclnng movement. The arms 2| of the U-shaped bar extendlongitudinally of the chassis in a direction toward the axle l4 andterminate in inwardly extending portions 22. The portions 22 extendsubstantially parallel to the base section 20 of the .bar and arerespectively pivotally connected to plates 23 clamped to the axle M bythe U -bolts I1. Theplates are shown in Figure 2 as having upwardlyextending ears 24 provided with openings therethrough for pivotallyreceiving the extensions or portions 22 on the arms 2|.

Thus, it will be seen that the extremities of the arms on the torsionbar l9 are directly pivotally connected to the unsprung assembly, withthe result that the usual linkage, heretofore considered necessary forthe above purpose, and the attendant disadvantages of these links areeliminated with the present invention. A

Upon reference to Figure 2, it will be noted that upon springdeflection, the extremities 22 of the arms tend to travel in a pathsubstantially indicated by the dotted line 25, while the axle I4 iscompelled to move throughout the path indicated generally by thedot-and-dash line 26. The two paths of travel are diiferent and, sincethe extremities 22 of the stabilizer 19 must move with the axle uponspring deflection, it follows that some provision should be made tocompensate for the variation between the two paths of travel. This isaccomplished, in the present instance, by mounting the opposite endportions of the base section 20 of the bar in blocks 21 of resilientmaterial permitting the required shifting movement of the torsion barrelative to the frame to compensate for the variations in the paths oftravel referred to above. In the present instance, the blocks 21 arepreferably formed of rubber and are respectively secured to theundersides of the laterally spaced sidesiJls of the frame l2 by means ofmetal retainers or straps 28. Each of the blocks 21 is formed with anopening 29 therethrough for receiving the extremities of the basesection l9 of the U-shaped bar. slightly smaller than the diameter ofthe bar so as to have'a gripping action against the bar and, in cases ofthis character, both the rocking and shifting movements of the bar arepermitted. by inter-particle flow of the resilient material from whichthe blocks are formed.

In the event it is desirable to increase the flow characteristics of therubber blocks to insure obtaining the required shifting movement of thestabilizer bar during spring deflection, the blocks may be formed withone or more openings 3| therethrough located in the manner illustratedin Figure 4. The openings 3| are shown in Figure 4 as extending entirelythrough the blocks but it is to be understood that the desired resultsmay be secured by merely recessing the blocks in the manner designatedby the reference character 32 in Figure 5. It is possible to secure thedesired movements of the sway bar relative to the frame in various otherways not speciflcally shown herein and reservation is made to make suchchanges in the construction as may If desired, the openings 29 may bemade come within the purview of the accompanying claims with theforegoing construction, it will be .to resist deflection of the formersuspension means. This has the eifect of maintaining the normal plane ofthe body of the vehicle substantially parallel with the plane of theaxle when the vehicle is turned in either direction from a straight linecourse of travel. It will, of course, be understood that the torsion barI9 does not eifect a rigid connection between the opposite sides of thesprung and unsprung assemblies, since such an arrangementwould have thetendency to effect an exceedingly rough ride. As a matter of fact, thedimension of the bar I! is so selected as to permit .the same to wrap ortwist to a certain extent upon relative deflection of the suspensionmeans on opposite sides of the vehicle.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a vehicle having sprung and unsprung assemblies, a stabilizercomprising a bar extending transversely of one of the assemblies andhaving arms extending laterally from the bar and directly pivotallyconnected to the other assembly, and blocks of resilient materialmounting the bar on said one assembly for both rocking and shiftingmovement relative to the latter assembly.

2. In a vehicle having sprung and unsprung assemblies, a stabilizercomprising. a one-piece substantially U-shaped bar having the basesection extending transversely of one of the assemblies and having theextremities of the arms directly pivotally connected to the otherassembly, and blocks of resilient material mounting the opposite endportions of the base section of the bar on said one assembly for bothrocking and shifting movement relative to the latter assembly.

3. In a vehicle having sprung and unsprung assemblies, a stabilizercomprising a bar extending transversely of one of the assemblies andhaving arms connected to the other assembly, and resilient blocksmounting the bar on said one assembly, said blocks having recessestherein for permitting rocking and shifting movement of the bar byinterparticle flow of the resilient material.

4. In a vehicle having sprimg and unsprung assemblies, a stabilizer barrockably supported on one of the assemblies and having laterallyextending arms directly pivotally connected to the other assembly, thepoint of pivotal connection required to permit the ends of the arms tomove in the path of travel of the point of pivotal connection of thearms with said other assembly.

5. In a vehicle having sprungand unsprung assemblies, a stabilizercomprising a bar extend ing transversely of one of the assemblies,members of rubber material mounting-the bar on the latter assembly forrocking movement and for other assembly.

6. In a vehicle having sprung and unsprung assemblies, a stabilizercomprising a torsion bar having -laterally extending arms spaced fromeach other in the direction of length of the bar, mounting means forsupportingthe bar on one of the assemblies for rocking movement, andmounting means directly connecting the free end portions of the arms onthe bar to, the other assembly, one of said mounting means includingmembers of resilient material providing for relative movement-betweenthe bar and latter assembly by interparticle flow of the resilientmaterial.

'7. In a vehicle having sprung and unsprung assemblies, a stabilizercomprising a torsion barhaving laterally extending arms spaced from eachother in the direction of length of the bar,

mounting means for supporting the bar on one of the assemblies forrocking movement, additional mounting means directly connecting the freeends or the arms to the other assembly, the free ends of the arms andthe unsprung assembly having different paths of travel, and one of saidmounting means comprising blocks of rubber material deformable tocompensate for the different paths of travel aforesaid.

BROUW'ER; n. McINTYRE.

